Goodbye Paper Boys, Hello Drones

One French province is planning to deliver newspapers using drone technology -- something that could prove useful in U.S. mail delivery.

The newspaper drone (pictured above) will deliver the local paper in Auvergne, a province in central France. Photo courtesy of Le Groupe La Poste.

Traditional newspaper delivery may be a practice of the past for one French province. And if such a pilot proves successful in this small part of Western Europe, perhaps the U.S. Postal Service could employ such technology to aid the troubled agency.

Auvergne, a province in central France, will be piloting a new program to deliver the region’s daily newspapers using drones, according to a Le Groupe La Poste blog post.

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The area’s postal service La Poste Group partnered with French company Parrot to implement the project in early May. The new program will offer home delivery of the local newspaper using drones designed by Parrot. Before implementation, the program will be tested through the use of volunteers.

The drone developed for this specific program will be named “Air Drone Postal,” and 20 drones are slated to deliver mail to customers before 7 a.m. Each of the drones will be handled and driven by 20 postal workers currently in training.

April Fool's!

The newspaper drone (pictured above) will deliver the local paper in Auvergne, a province in central France. Photo courtesy of Le Groupe La Poste.